I'm sort of on a roll this week with blogs posts and emails, but I have so many things that I want to share with you, that I sort of can't even help it!
Today I want to chat briefly with you about perspective.
In the West, our healthcare system is largely one based on treating symptoms.
We experience a problem in a specific part of the body and both we and our healthcare providers often problem solve as if the problem originated in said part.
Consequently, the treatment is solely focused on this one area.
For example, if you go to the doctor with persistent knee pain, they will typically recommend you:
take an anti-inflammatory,
wear a knee brace,
receive steroid shots to the knee
and if all else fails, get knee surgery.
But ALL of theses solutions are about STOPPING the uncomfortable symptoms that are coming from the knee, which is in actuality a RESPONSE to other issues taking place in the body.
Anything from the hips, to the ankle, toes, pelvic floor or head position....
diet, stress management, shoes, movement habits and lifestyle...
is IN FACT OFTEN behind the knee pain, but we are often so ZOOMED in on the location of problem and consumed with stopping the symptoms that we fail to realize that the knee's current state is not because of the knee at ALL, but due to many other factors.
I see this same problem a LOT with the pelvic floor.
I receive emails and DM's all of the time from people that had prolapse corrective surgery and how find themselves having symptoms again.
This is because the surgery only took care of the symptoms of a larger problem of strength, stability, pressure management, lifestyle and tissue health.
Surgery doesn't change the health of your gut microbiome, which determines the health of your pelvic tissue and hormones.
Surgery doesn't stop constipation, change your breathing habits or how you regulate intra-abdominal pressure.
Surgery doesn't sustainably lift your tissues or teach you how to move in a way that activates your pelvic floor as needed.
And so because surgery is often just a big ol' expensive bandaid, we find ourselves back in the same ol' pickle.
**There are absolutely instances when trauma merits surgery and or situations where we need surgical intervention to stop or slow damage to the body. But even with surgery, it's imperative that we not see it as a solution, but as something that is staving off problems...and the problems will return if we don't change how we live!
THIS is why I advocate that we all take a step BACK from our health problems and try to better understand the many other aspects of health in our body, to which our problems can be related.
When I hurt my shoulder, I tried stretching it and resting it...but I never got any healing or was able to move past the chronic pain until I sought out someone that understand how my shoulder was responding to my ENTIRE body's movement mechanics. Shoutout to Kate Galliett!
And when I developed prolapse, my breakthrough moment that lead to progress and healing was when I began to understand that my prolapse was only sort of about the pelvic floor, but was MORE about how I was carrying my body around all day long every day...
how I was breathing....
how my body was struggling with major gut dysbiois and this was resulting in malnourished tissues and elimination struggles
and lastly
how my stress and failure to take care of my body was increasing my stress response and worsening symptoms.
And so today, whether it's pelvic health, knee pain, food struggles or motivation to move and train your body, I want to encourage you to zoom out!
Whatever narrative you've created about your pain or condition, I want you to put it on the shelf today.
Instead of "I have a bad back", consider that your back pain is a message to you that something or things in the body aren't functioning optimally.
What is it connected to or impacted by in the body?
Your hips, abdominal muscles, glutes, shoulders, feet....
How often do you "train" your back to be strong and able to do the things you need it to do?
Even standing or sitting up straight takes energy and work!
Do you simply stretch it, or do you build it and its capabilities?
Is back surgery or pain reliever going solve the root cause of your problem?
If you stick your finger in the back pain "hole in the dike" will the water start coming out another area of the body?
Chances are pretty great that it will.
Instead of, "I have always been a fat kid" or "I can't help but binge at night", "I don't like moving or exercise,"
Stop blaming yourself or your body and find all the tiny or big threads that are attached to these actions and tendencies and see where they lead you?
What is this behavior a RESPONSE to?
What is it telling you about yourself and your life and what's ONE little thing you can do today to try to address the LARGER issue?
And most importantly, where can you find someone that can HELP you get perspective and zoom out??!!
For ease of understanding and discussion, we have split up the body into lots of little pieces and given those pieces names.
But make no mistake, EVERYTHING is connected.
Zooming out from your problems is going to give you PERSPECTIVE and OPPORTUNITY to find LOTS of different solutions and areas of impact in t he body to calm your pain and give you LASTING healing.
Which reminds me, you are invited to join my seminar on mindset strategies I employed to finally get some healing from my pelvic health struggles!
If you're struggling now, still battling the same level of symptoms you had when you were diagnosed or WORSE, then you're going to want to attend.
It wasn't until I got my MIND right around my prolapse, that I was able to find solutions, strategies that worked and healing!
Come join us!
SIGN UP HERE
xoxo,
Sarah Smith
Sarah Smith is on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS!
She is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil and Agricultural Science.
Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina.
She is a Believer, wife to her best friend, Jeremiah, a mom to three boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves soil, coffee and not folding laundry.
Come follow her on Instagram or Facebook.